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DİHA journalist Mehmet Sıddık Damar arrested over tweets

Mehmet Sıddık Damar, a reporter for the Dicle News Agency which was shut down under a cabinet decree, was arrested by court order on the basis of his social media posts, Evrensel reported on 1 May.

Damar was detained by police in Istanbul on 30 April. In August 2017, Damar had been detained on the basis of his tweets and news reports on Kurdish cities where Turkish security forces conducted operations in late 2015 and early 2016. He was arrested and he was given a sentence of two years and six months in his first court appearance. However, he was released pending appeal.

Damar was detained again in the afternoon of 30 April in Istanbul and later taken to the Istanbul Police Department in Fatih. He was later arrested by a court in Çağlayan. He was to be taken to Metris Prison, according to Evrensel's report.